'Tis Vanity

“It is vanity to wish for a long life,

And to take little care of leading a good life”*

Every moment we make a choice,

The best decision for today

Or the best decision for the long term.

Sometimes those are the same,

sometimes they are not at all.

Politicians in stark relief may choose

political survival

Over the survival of their souls,

their integrity

Or choose what they really feel what’s right

And sometimes lose elections.

But is that a bad thing?

It’s so easily observed, this calculation,

‘Can I get re-elected if I do this,

Or must I do that?’

One such as myself values

Honest disagreement more

Than obsequious hypocrisy...

...that changes with the wind.

But that’s me.

And I’m not sitting in those

Meetings, forced to vote

“yea” or “nay”.

Thank God.

That's a tough job.

But...

'Tis vanity to believe that people

don't recognize that same duplicity

in us.

'Tis hubris when we don't

see it in ourselves.

I can see it, too often,

in myself.

Farmers, unless they are engaged

In social activities,

Don’t have the luxury

Of hypocrisy.

Nature goes on without

Rationalizing.

Farmers can choose

To make short-term choices

That result in money-crops

That leave the land barren

Though

Politicians, farmers,

and me and you

can and do make

those choices

sometimes.

We make these decisions

Each day ourselves.

Sometimes for very good reasons,

But...

Over a lifetime,

they'll add up to something.

Will it be a something that has enriched us

when all is said and done

Or impoverished us, regardless of how

large our bank account

or our power

or our celebrity is?

“It is vanity, therefore, to seek after riches

Which must perish, and to trust in them.”*

*from à Kempis, T. (2013). The Imitation of Christ (R. Challoner, Trans.). Tan Books & Pub., p. 2